Breaking HIStory in Canarias Island From Conflict to Community through Movement: A Hybrid Gathering to Mend Broken Histories.

 

From Conflict to Community through Movement: A Hybrid Gathering to Mend Broken Histories.

The collective Breaking HIStory, comprised of Coll Hutchison and Nelson Iván Simonelli Wizard (both from the Fuera de Límite Clan), presented a unique hybrid gathering in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: a performative talk, a dance experience, and a movement workshop, as part of the 4th Celebration of the Signing of the Peace Treaty between the Bronx Gangs (1971).

Organized by Colectivo La Dupa, with the support of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria City Council and Project Estilos en 1, this event proposed an active reflection on peace, memory, and community repair through art and movement.

The day began with an introductory performance combining video, dance, and spoken word, weaving a fictional narrative of two former combatants inspired by the poetry book "¿Qué dirán de mí en Inglaterra?" by Jhon Love. This poetic and physical dialogue engaged with the historic signing of the 1971 Bronx Peace Treaty, creating a symbolic bridge between different forms of conflict and reconciliation.

Through the concept of urban kintsugi —a metaphor for repairing broken things with gold, without hiding the scars— the gathering addressed themes such as colonization, immigration, systemic violence, and identity in island contexts: from the Bronx to the Falklands, and especially in the Canary Islands, the host territory where this experience took place.

In an exercise of performative deconstruction, Coll and Nelson intertwined their personal stories, their bodies, and their narratives, exchanging clothing and roles, to propose a revolution of tenderness as a political act against normalized cruelty. Citing thinkers like Rita Segato, they invited a reimagining of vulnerability as courage and care as resistance.

The event culminated in a movement workshop where participants explored, through their bodies, the fractures that separate us and the possibilities for collective repair. It was not just about remembering peace, but about dancing it, embodying it, about breaking history to rebuild it with new meaning.

#peacetreaty was more than an event:
It was a contemporary ritual of active memory, a call to unite the fragments of our broken histories with the gold of community, movement, and peace.

#peacetreaty

From Conflict to Community through Movement.

• Hybrid Gathering (Talk + Performance + Movement Workshop)

Presented by
Breaking HIStory
Coll Hutchison & Nelson Iván Simonelli Wizard
(Both members of Fuera de Límite Clan) ✨

✨
4th Celebration of the Signing of the Peace Treaty between the Bronx Gangs (1971) ✨
December 8, 2025 | Las Palmas de Gran Canaria